Apple Date Cake

It seems i've only been baking and it's actually true. i'm off the run-of-the-mill dishes for the next two months more! isn't it lovely to have a cook who takes care of your daily humdrum in the kitchen wherein you focus on the cakes and bakes and grills and dandy cooking! well i find it lovely. anyway the following recipe is a sure-fire success as it's the famous tried-and-tested Nita Mehta recipe. to this i added a dash of my daring trial and the outcome was fabulous. my mum couldn't stop eating it and she's generally not generous with compliments. she said it was fantastic. here i go

Nita Mehta recipe

2 large apples-cored, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup or 85 gms softened butter (unsalted)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
13/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup stoned and chopped dates

Blend apples to a puree with 4 tbsp water. Sift flour and baking powder and keep aside. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Alternately add eggs and sieved flour to the butter. Add the apple puree and mix. Keeping aside 1 tbsp of walnuts and dates for the top, add the rest to the cake mixture. Grease a 11” X 9” cake tin and pour the batter in it. Bake at 180 degree C for 45 min to 1 hour. Cool, cut and serve.



You can religiously follow this recipe and can come off with a beauty. to add some zest to it and as i'm into cake-recipe-skewing i had to do the following gimmick.

2 tbsp condensed milk
3 tbsp gooseberry wine sweetened with jaggery (i happened to have only this. any liquor will do; if it's rum or brandy stick to the 1 cup sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence



I used only 3/4 cup powdered sugar as my wine was too sweet. instead of walnuts i used chopped cashewnuts as usual but added some chopped red cherries and chopped orange peel to fill half the cup cashewnut. i soaked the dates and nuts and cherries in the wine for just one day at room temperature with half a tsp of soda bicarb to soften the dates. i added the condense milk and essence in the final mix and baked to delight! i recommend nambisans unsalted butter for south indians. it adds a distinct unforgettable flavour to the cake.